About the August "Gus" Ludwig Hormay Papers Collection

What is it?

August "Gus" Ludwig Hormay (1907-1999) developed the rest-rotation grazing management system of the Western United States rangelands and spent more than seventy years working in natural resource conservation. In 1931, after completing his academic studies at the University of California Berkeley, Hormay started working for the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service.

For the next thirty-six years, Hormay worked out of the Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station in Berkeley, California and developed the theory of rest-rotation. In 1966, Hormay transferred to the Bureau of Land Management and spearheaded educating government officials, land stewards, and livestock-holders in rest-rotation grazing techniques.

The August Hormay Papers is the entire collection of his personal and professional papers. These papers include: daily activities during 1930-1999; numerous publications; research files on Modoc National Forest, Lassen National Forest, and Plumas National Forest; experimental forests and ranges of Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest, Burgess Spring Experimental Range, and Harvey Valley Grazing Allotment; grazing allotments and rangelands throughout the intermountain and Trans-Mississippi West 1965-1977; and Hormay’s experiments with reproduction and germination of bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata) 1942-1979.

In 2003, the estate of August "Gus" Ludwig Hormay donated Gus Hormay’s papers to Montana State University Library Archives. The MSU Library August Hormay Papers Special Collections' Finding Aid has complete details on this collection's objects, content, and provenance.

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